FIGURES OF

SPEECH
• In literature and writing, a figure of speech (also
called stylistic device or rhetorical device)
is the use of any of a variety of techniques to give
an auxiliary meaning, idea, or feeling.
• Stylistic devices often provide emphasis, freshness
of expression, or clarity.
ALLITERATION
Alliteration is the repetition of initial sounds in
neighboring words.
Alliteration draws attention to the phrase and
is often used for emphasis. The initial consonant
sound is usually repeated in two neighboring words
although sometimes the repetition occurs also in
words that are not neighbors.
Examples:
• sweet smell of success,
• a dime a dozen,
• bigger and better,
• jump for joy
• share a continent but not a country
EXAMPLES
• "You'll never put a better bit of butter on your
knife."
(advertising slogan for Country Life butter)
• "The soul selects her own society."
(Emily Dickinson)
• "The daily diary of the American dream."
(slogan of The Wall Street Journal)
Examples:

• keen camarade
• philosophy fan.
•A neat knot need not be re-
knotted
Examples:

• a cute child
• highly honored
ANAPHORA

• Anaphora is a stylistic device that consists of

repeating a sequence of words at the beginnings of
neighboring clauses to give them emphasis.
• This rhetorical device is contrasted with epiphora,
also called epistrophe, which consists of repeating
words at the end of clauses.
EXAMPLES

In time the savage bull sustains the yoke,

In time all haggard hawks will stoop to lure,
In time small wedges cleave the hardest oak,
In time the flint is pierced with softest shower.
Thomas Kyd,The Spanish Tragedy, I,vi. 3
Mad world! Mad kings! Mad composition!
William Shakespeare, King John, II

"I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance,

I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the
country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun."
(Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely)
"I'm not afraid to die. I'm not afraid to live. I'm
not afraid to fail. I'm not afraid to succeed. I'm not
afraid to fall in love. I'm not afraid to be alone. I'm
just afraid I might have to stop talking about
myself for five minutes."
(Kinky Friedman,When the Cat's Away)
ANTITHESIS

• a contrary or opposite opinion, concept, or

characteristic.

• It involves the bringing out of a contrast in the ideas by

an obvious contrast in the words, clauses, or sentences,
within a parallel grammatical structure.
• In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, we read the
line:

• "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.“

• Here, Dickens epitomized the very idea of antithesis. How

can anything be both good and bad?
• The whole of Disney's Beauty and the Beast is based
upon antithesis.
• From a very "big picture" standpoint, Belle is the
quintessence of beauty and the Beast is the epitome
of ugliness.
"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish
together as fools."
(Martin Luther King, Jr., speech at St. Louis, 1964)
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for
mankind." - Neil Armstrong.
"Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice."
- William Shakespeare.
"Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing." - Goethe
•“Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.”
APOSTROPHE
• Apostrophe is an exclamatory rhetorical figure of speech,
when a speaker or writer breaks off and directs speech to
an imaginary person or abstract quality or idea.

• A figure of speech in which some absent or nonexistent

person or thing is addressed as if present and capable of
understanding.
"Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again."
Paul Simon,The Sounds of Silence

"Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so."
John Donne, Holy Sonnet X

"Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone

Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own."
(Lorenz Hart, "Blue Moon")
EUPHEMISM
• The term euphemism refers to polite, indirect expressions
that replace words and phrases considered harsh and
impolite, or which suggest something unpleasant.
• Euphemism is an idiomatic expression, which loses its literal
meanings and refers to something else, in order to hide its
unpleasantness.
• You are becoming a little thin on top (bald).
• Our teacher is in the family way (pregnant).
• He is a little tipsy (drunk).
• We do not hire mentally challenged (stupid) people.
• He is a special child (disabled or learning challenged).
•Going to the other side for death,
•Passed away for die.
• On the streets for homeless.
•Comfort woman for prostitute
•Between jobs for unemployed.
 EXAMPLES OF EUPHEMISM IN
LITERATURE
• Shakespeare using euphemism for sexual intercourse in his play Antony and
Cleopatra.” In Act 2, Scene 2, Agrippa says about Cleopatra:

“Royal wench!
She made great Caesar lay his sword to bed.
He plowed her, and she cropped.”

• The word “plowed” refers to the act of sexual intercourse, and the word
“cropped” is a euphemism for becoming pregnant.
ANADIPLOSIS
•Anadiplosis is a rhetorical term for the
repetition of the last word or phrase of one
line or clause to begin the next. Also known
as duplicatio, reduplicatio, and redouble.
• "At six o'clock we were waiting for coffee, waiting
for coffee and the charitable crumb . . ."
(Elizabeth Bishop, "A Miracle for Breakfast")

• "When I give I give myself."

(Walt Whitman)
• "Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is
our task."
(Henry James)
• "The general who became a slave. The slave who
became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an
emperor. Striking story!"
(Commodus in the movie Gladiator, 2000)
EPISTROPHE

• Epistrophe is a stylistic device that can be

defined as the repetition of phrases or words at
the ends of the clauses or sentences. It is also
called “epiphora.”
“Hourly joys be still upon you!
Juno sings her blessings on you …
Scarcity and want shall shun you,
Ceres’ blessing so is on you.”
BRUTUS:
“Who is here so base that would be a bondman?
If any, speak; for him have I offended.
Who is here so rude that would not be a
Roman? If any, speak; for him have I offended.
Who is here so vile that will not love his
country? If any, speak; for him have I offended …”
FUNCTION OF EPISTROPHE

•Emphasis
•Memorization
•Beauty
METONYMY

Metonymy is a figure of speech that replaces

the name of a thing with the name of
something else with which it is closely
associated.

Metonym is an example of metonymy

Let me give you a hand.
Hand is closely associated with
help
Hollywood has been making some very
expensive movies recently.
Hollywood is closely associated with the
film industry.
•“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me
your ears.”
Julius Caesar (By William Shakespeare)
HOW TO USE METONYMY
• Think of an object you want to describe.
• Think about a word closely associated with the
object.
• Call the first object using the word that is
closely associated with it.
FUNCTION OF METONYMY
• Metonymy is used in developing literary symbolism.
• Texts exhibit deeper or hidden meanings, thus drawing
readers’ attention.
• The use of metonymy helps achieve conciseness. For
instance, “Rifles were guarding the gate” is more concise
than “The guards with rifles in their hands were guarding
the gate.”
HYPERBOLE

Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration as a

rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be
used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong
impression, but is not meant to be taken literally.
Hyperboles are exaggerations to create emphasis
or effect.
•My grandmother is as old as the hills.
•Your suitcase weighs a ton!
•She is as heavy as an elephant!
•I am dying of shame.
•I am trying to solve a million issues these
days.
The Adventures of Pinocchio (By C. Colloid)
•“He cried all night, and dawn found him still
there, though his tears had dried and only
hard, dry sobs shook his wooden frame. But
these were so loud that they could be heard
by the faraway hills …”
SYNECDOCHE

•Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which

a part of something is used to represent
the whole or the whole of something is
used to represent part of it.
•I have five mouths to feed at home.
•America is the strongest nation in the
planet.
•He drives the most expensive wheels
in the city.
•Get out of my face!